Holiday entertainment: Rockettes to 'Messiah' to theater

For some, it's not the holidays until they've seen 36 life-sized wooden soldiers do their slow-mo pratfall. The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes runs Nov. 10, 2017 to Jan. 1, 2018. Video by Peter D. Kramer/lohud
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"The Christmas Spectacular Starring The Radio City Rockettes" is a New York holiday tradition.(Photo: Paul Kolnik)

If you've ever seen the Radio City Rockettes, you've seen their signature sky-high kick line, a study in grace and precision that they make look oh so easy.

But their boss, Rockettes creative director Karen Keeler, wants you to know it takes a lot of work to make something that hard look that easy.

First, those kicks are called "eye-high" kicks. As in: Up to eye level.

Second, even though their arms are around each other, they are not actually touching each other. They may touch the fabric of the back of their neighbors' costumes, but only just lightly.

Karen Keeler, director of Rockettes Creative, puts the precision dance team through its paces at rehearsals for the 2017 "Radio City Christmas Spectacular." The New York City holiday tradition runs through Jan. 1, 2018.(Photo: Marion Curtis/StarPix)

"It takes a lot of core strength," says Keeler, who spent 14 years executing those kicks as a member of the world's most famous precision dance team. Some days, she'd perform four shows a day; most seasons, she'd do more than 100 performances.

"These women train as athletes," Keeler says. "It’s a lot harder than it looks. It’s deceiving, but that’s the beauty of it, that it looks effortless."

Think about it, she says: "Just to hold yourself on the same exact mark and kick eye-high multiple multiple times and not move around takes incredible strength."

Karen Keeler, director of Rockettes Creative, kicks off rehearsals for the 2017 "Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes," on Oct. 12 at St. Paul the Apostle Church. Here, she watches as the precision dancers present their tap number, "The Twelve Days of Christmas."(Photo: Carl Scheffel/MSG Photos)

That's something to think about if you take in "The Christmas Spectacular starring The Radio City Rockettes."

The sparkliest of New York City Christmas traditions includes high-kicking Rockettes, Santa and the Living Nativity, with live animals on the world’s most famous stage. Some days, the high kicks start at 9 a.m. and don’t stop till close to midnight, with up to six shows per day. Good thing there are two casts. Nov. 10-Jan. 1. Starting at $49. Radio City Music Hall, Sixth Avenue, between 50th and 51st streets. 866-858-0007. www.rockettes.com/christmas

Buddy gets to know his half-brother, Michael, over a bowl of syrup-slathered spaghetti in "Elf the Musical," playing The Theater at Madison Square Garden Dec. 13-29.(Photo: Joan Marcus)

On other stages

“ELF” AT MSG: The Will Ferrell holiday film favorite — about a human orphan raised among elves at the North Pole who searches for his father one New York City Christmas — comes to the stage in a musical that is, to quote one of the songs, sparklejollytwinklejingley. Dec. 13-29. Starting at $39. Theater at Madison Square Garden, 4 Penn Plaza. 844-483-9008. www.msg.com

ZUZU’S PETALS, READ ALOUD: Irish Rep stages “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a live radio play. Some performances are already sold out, so go to your building and loan, and withdraw $50 per ticket soon. Nov. 29-Dec. 31. $50. W. Scott McLucas Studio Theater, 132 W. 22nd St. 212-727-2737. www.irishrep.org

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker" will play Nov. 24 to Dec. 31 at New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center.(Photo: Paul Kolnik)

A TREE GROWS IN LINCOLN CENTER: Yes, this annual production of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” has sugar-plum fairies, Uncle Drosselmeyer and the oversized Mother Ginger, but kids will never forget seeing the Christmas tree grow before their very eyes, from a respectable 12 feet to a massive 40. “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” Nov. 24-Dec. 31. $35-$290. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. www.nycballet.com.

“THE DEAD, 1904”: Don’t let the title fool you. This is one of New York’s liveliest affairs, as Irish Rep hosts an immersive theater event in a Museum Mile mansion across from The Met, at The American Irish Historical Society. The Morkan sisters are having a party on Jan. 6, 1904, and you’re invited. There’s food, drink (wine, stout and spirits), song and conversation, and a revelation that changes a marriage. You can be right in the middle of it: $150 for show only; $300 for dinner; $1,000 for a seat at the performers’ table. (Go ahead: Ask Aunt Julia to pass the butter.) Only 55 audience members at each performance. If you feel lucky, there’s a daily lottery for $19.04 dinner tickets, saving $280.96. Download the TodayTix app to enter. Nov. 18-Jan. 7. The American Irish Historical Society, 991 Fifth Ave. www.irishrep.org

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker" will play Nov. 24 to Dec. 31 at New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center.(Photo: Paul Kolnik)

A heavenly host of ‘Messiah’

Uptown and downtown, early and late, there are performances of Handel’s “Messiah” all over Manhattan this season. Here’s a sampling.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular Starring The Rockettes is a New York holiday tradition.(Photo: Dan Niver)

ORATORIO SOCIETY SINGS ORATORIO: Handel’s masterwork has been a fixture at Carnegie Hall for generations. The Oratorio Society of New York presents “Messiah” at Carnegie Hall one night only: 8 p.m., Dec. 18. Kent Tritle conducts orchestra, soloists and a 200-voice chorus. $28 to $100. 212-400-7255. Carnegie Hall is at 57th Street at Seventh Avenue. www.oratoriosocietyofny.org.

LAST-MINUTE ‘MESSIAH’: If your holiday shopping gets in the way of holiday music, The Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra has a last-minute option: It brings the oratorio to the Stern stage at Carnegie Hall — as it has done every Christmas since 1961 — on the eve of Christmas Eve. 8 p.m., Dec. 23. $13.50 to $94. Carnegie Hall is at 57th Street at Seventh Avenue. www.carnegiehall.org.

My favorite New York City holiday tradition: Every December, I try to make a pilgrimage to The Cloisters, The Met's collection of European medieval architecture, sculpture and art. There's something about the place that centers me, before the crush of the holiday. Catch the hour-long guided highlights tour at 3 p.m. daily. 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, in Fort Tryon Park. New York, NY, 212-923-3700, www.metmuseum.org/visit/met-cloisters Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year's Day. Buy tickets at the counter and pay what you wish. Pay online in advance ($25, $17 seniors, $12 students) and you can skip the line. Open 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. through February.

— Peter D. Kramer, @peterkramer

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